• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

How far would £755m go on Welsh railways?

Status
Not open for further replies.

lazydragon

Member
Joined
20 Aug 2015
Messages
42
As somebody who travelled Aber - Carmarthen by rail (!) : it was very quiet then, would be very quiet now, would be a waste of money.

Booo! Just being selfish I suppose, driving the route several times a month....a train would mean I could ditch the car altogether.

£755 million could get a really comprehensive government report on Welsh railways that we would have no funds to implement I suppose.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

BestWestern

Established Member
Joined
6 Feb 2011
Messages
6,736
Very definitely a self-tanning machine on every station; upgraded 'super orange' spec ones for Swansea :D
 
Last edited:
Joined
13 Feb 2011
Messages
1,056
Location
Cardiff
How many DMUs could £755million pay for?

It's clear Valley line electrification isn't going to happen anytime soon and even after that there's still West, Mid North and the Marches lines that won't have wires to use them on.
 

Domeyhead

Member
Joined
10 Nov 2009
Messages
386
Location
The South
For a modest suggestion the 1 mile extension to Ebbw Vale Town does pretty well, then the 3 mile spur to Abertillery which has been talked about for a while now. Reckon they could both be delivered for less than £100m with only a small increase in rolling stock.
 

6Gman

Established Member
Joined
1 May 2012
Messages
8,382
Actually quite a lot!
And I think your geography is a bit out. North Walians invariably head towards Liverpool, Chester and Manchester.

I suspect more through trains to Euston would be popular too.
 

absolutelymilk

Established Member
Joined
18 Jul 2015
Messages
1,239
Cardiff is only the 8th most popular destination from Wrexham- the largest town in North Wales as Bob would tell us- despite 10 years of trying to manipulate the market with direct services.

Out of interest, what are the first seven? Presumably Chester, Holyhead and Shrewsbury feature?
 

D6975

Established Member
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
2,864
Location
Bristol
Aber - Carmarthen has been costed at £750m according to the thread on that subject, and that's just the first price, you know it would end up being a lot more.

Bangor - Caernarfon Parkway perhaps might be a more realistic possibility (assuming that the dosh is used for a reopening rather than improvement of existing routes/services).
 
Last edited:

krus_aragon

Established Member
Joined
10 Jun 2009
Messages
6,042
Location
North Wales
Aber - Carmarthen has been costed at £750m according to the thread on that subject, and that's just the first price, you know it would end up being a lot more.

Bangor - Caernarfon Parkway perhaps might be a more realistic possibility (assuming that the dosh is used for a reopening rather than improvement of existing routes/services).

To the latter, I'd respectfully add Bangor - Llangefni as well. Both arteries choke with commuters, and there's the generally useful extension of a railhead for the surrounding areas.
 

Tumbleweed

Member
Joined
17 Apr 2013
Messages
165
Four miles of track from Pontyclun to Beddau would be nice as well as the Hirwaun/Abertillery ones - probably all that cash would get swallowed up as someone said previously on consultations/studies etc.
 

TDK

Established Member
Joined
19 Apr 2008
Messages
4,155
Location
Crewe
It will cost a big chunk of that for the WG to run the not for profit plans they have in place for Welsh Rail, with Northern going to Arriva and the extension of the LM franchise I would predict that Northern will get Chester to Manchester, LM will get Chester to Birmingham/Birmingham to Crewe via Wem and Northern will most likely get Crewe to Manchester via Wilmslow. Take these routes out of the equation with only 200 pax from Cardiff to Holyhead they will need most of that money just to run the services they intend to maintain.
 

krus_aragon

Established Member
Joined
10 Jun 2009
Messages
6,042
Location
North Wales
It will cost a big chunk of that for the WG to run the not for profit plans they have in place for Welsh Rail, with Northern going to Arriva and the extension of the LM franchise I would predict that Northern will get Chester to Manchester, LM will get Chester to Birmingham/Birmingham to Crewe via Wem and Northern will most likely get Crewe to Manchester via Wilmslow. Take these routes out of the equation with only 200 pax from Cardiff to Holyhead they will need most of that money just to run the services they intend to maintain.

But this HS2-related money will be a one-off, so surely in the capital (rather than revenue) budget?
 

TDK

Established Member
Joined
19 Apr 2008
Messages
4,155
Location
Crewe
But this HS2-related money will be a one-off, so surely in the capital (rather than revenue) budget?

I wonder if this cash injection will actually be spent on rail or on road connections to any HS2 location. I know HS2 is a totally different thread but if the money being spent on HS2 was distributed to enhance the current infrastructure the country would have a much better transport system. What is the cost? Off the top of my head £300m per minute saved between point A - B.
 

krus_aragon

Established Member
Joined
10 Jun 2009
Messages
6,042
Location
North Wales
I wonder if this cash injection will actually be spent on rail or on road connections to any HS2 location. I know HS2 is a totally different thread but if the money being spent on HS2 was distributed to enhance the current infrastructure the country would have a much better transport system. What is the cost? Off the top of my head £300m per minute saved between point A - B.

True, there isn't any guarantee that the money will be spend on transport-related projects, but I started this thread for discussion of potential spends in the event it is ring-fenced for transport.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top